Being a fan of the ME universe I took the plunge and bought Omega.
Now, having a "vacation" tomorrow (starting to renovate kitchen, ugh..) I had a glass of red wine and continued from yesterday (ok, two glasses.., large). So…

Why do you never ever experience scarcity of ammo in ME3?
1. I have never ever been out of ammo, using the smaller widow and a pistol. it takes away tension from gunplay. I even never ever get down to half ammo.
Thats ME3 as a whole.

2. the gun up.
Thank you aging console generation for giving me a sub par experience on my PC. I detested it from the beginning but in Omega it really gets on my nerves. I run around in a "safe" bunker with my pistol pointing in everyones face. not a good way to make friends…

3. As our Dumas literate put it, Aria is a fan service, that indicates that I am no longer a part of what Bioware wants to cater to. I have come halfway through Omega and I cant fathom why I should support Aria instead of the female Turian.
Aria is a mob boss and the longer I play the more I want to bash her head to pulp, put a gun to her orally or in the other end and pull the trigger.
lots of times…

4. Did I mention that it is even more claustrophobic than DOOM.
Forget about tactical combat, I stopped and started running with my pistol in front of me constantly pushing the trigger. It works! (infinite ammo helps, but my indexfinger is sore from pushing left mouse button)

Forget about me, I'm just a relic who remembered the possibilities ME had, who wanted some lighthearted fun before going all in with the crowbar on an ancient kitchen.

One good thing though is that we are going to have a wine cooler in our new kitchen. Remember the good things. Like DLC as Shale or Shadowbrooker.

C

Carnifex

November 29th, 2012 22:48

I bought ME3, played it, deleted it 2 hrs later. I've never looked back, and never regretted it….loved ME1, tolerated ME2, and detested ME3. What a wasted chance to have a grand finish.

-Carn

DeepO

November 30th, 2012 19:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crilloan
(Post 1061173561)

Why do you never ever experience scarcity of ammo in ME3?
1. I have never ever been out of ammo, using the smaller widow and a pistol. it takes away tension from gunplay. I even never ever get down to half ammo.
Thats ME3 as a whole.

What difficulty you´re on? I think that on higher difficulties ammo should be somewhat scarcer (enemies should drop it less often).
Personally I see this just as a minor mechanic that encourages mobility, better aiming and a bit more of environmental awareness.
It is a minor thing even on insanity, but it is something I have to (sorta unconsciously) keep an eye on, especially when using shotguns and snipers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crilloan
(Post 1061173561)

Forget about tactical combat, I stopped and started running with my pistol in front of me constantly pushing the trigger. It works! (infinite ammo helps, but my indexfinger is sore from pushing left mouse button)

Again, what difficulty setting?
You should try the game on insanity - ME3 is still quite a bit easier than ME2, unfortunately, but it isn´t as straightforward as your post suggests.
Also, I´d say the average difficulty of encounters in Omega is higher than in the base game.

As for the Omega DLC, I´ve finished it twice and thought it was ok. Some stuff was disappointing and some stuff was good.

Among the major negatives I´d count the antagonist and general background for Cerberus not being fleshed out enough (even one meaty dialogue wheel with the antagonist might´ve solved both issues), lack of polish in places (animation glitches in one of Aria´s speeches or ambient sounds going off till reload) and, probably the biggest minus, no cool-off period after the campaign ends (basically, not being able to return to Omega later; one of the best things about Lair of the Shadowbroker were the little additions available after the campaign´s end).
Among more minor stuff I´d count the amount of experience points the DLC provides (way too much) and occasionally off Aria´s VA.

Insufficient backstory and underdeveloped antagonist aside, the plot and characterizations were simple, but effective and I appreciated the more to-the-point approach. There´s a secondary batarian character who manages to be memorable and "3D" via only few lines of dialogue.
Level design provided a good sense of scale and some visual/design pieces were great (only a very small portion takes place in environments recycled from ME2, btw).
Combat encounter design was really good overall, I think. Even though there are only two new enemy types and the rest are the usual Cerberus units, the enemy composition, the combat environments/layouts and some additional objectives here and there made this probably the most consistently fun combat experience in the whole series for me.
Pacing was quite good - the campaign is a bit more combat-heavy than usual, but, besides the usual (though brief) hub downtimes and dialogue scenes, the levels did provide some "running around" breathing room here and there.

Finally, I´ve been positively surprised by the implementation of dialogue choices in this.
The DLC tracks Shepard´s choices throughout the campaign and it results in a unusually (for the series) nuanced ending. No ground shaking consequences here, but whether player was of predominantly paragon, renegade and even mixed(!) attitude is acknowledged and player can influence in what way Aria wants to deal with the antagonist, as well as with the Omega. Player is also given a choice how to deal with the antagonist and going against character profile established throughout the campaign will get acknowledged as well.
Also, as a minor, but cool addition, engineer class gets an exclusive interrupt in this :).
All in all, mechanically this is easily the most reactive Mass Effect DLC to date and in this regard the devs actually did attempt to do few things which have not been done in the series yet, AFAIR.

It´s overpriced, it´s flawed, but it definitely isn´t terrible in my book and I consider it a welcome addition to the game, as well as the series as a whole.
I´d add that I came to appreciate it quite a bit more only after replay - the combat held up really well with a different class and the reactivity aspect was not obvious after one playthrough.

JDR13

November 30th, 2012 19:27

That was one heck of an apology, DeepO. ;)

DeepO

November 30th, 2012 19:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDR13
(Post 1061173722)

That was one heck of an apology, DeepO. ;)

Well, yeah, though I like to think about it more as an alternative viewpoint :).

Normally I very likely wouldn´t bother breaking down an overpriced DLC like this, but since it was made by dudes supposedly in charge of development of ME4, I thought a bit more attention shouldn´t hurt.
As sloppy as the DLC at times is, I think it comes with some good points that make me think the franchise may not be an entirely lost cause yet.

Crilloan

November 30th, 2012 23:07

I've finished it now and have cooled down for a bit.

@DeepO
You might have a point that combat would have felt more tactical, concerning ammo and more on a higher difficulty level than normal. I tend not to bother with harder levels since it sometimes just feels like a grind and takes more time. And gaming time comes at a premium these days. ME1 I actually played on hardcore and enjoyed it after my first playthrough. I felt that I had more possibilities to play tactical in that game, but that might be just me.

A more balanced opinion from me on the Omega DLC might be:
1. I think it was a bit to heavy on combat.
2. Overpriced compared to other DLC, but that might just be inflation?
3. Missed opportunity concerning one of the batarians, would have loved to have a long conversation with Arias lieutenant. Would have given flesh to a race thats usually only cannon fodder.

More subjective.
A bit to cramped and claustrophobic.

The mass effect trilogy have given me some really spectacular gaming sessions and I'm grateful for that.

But I do mourn the loss of exploration and "sense of wonder" that were so promising in the beginning. A sci-fi universe with rich lore.

My hopes for the franchise is:
Remember what was good from each iteration and go from there. (weapons were definitely best implemented i ME3)
Don´t strangle the game for PC because of aging consoles. If you don't have the skill to do a decent PC port, get external help, as in ME1. That "one-button wonder" killed me more times than I care to remember.

Now Im going to finish my replay of ME3. There will not be any more after this.
Off to Horizon and stomp on cerberus. MIght take DeepO´s advice and up the ante concerning difficulty.